Life, 1905-11-09 · page 10 of 26
Life — November 9, 1905 — page 10: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical piece mocks the Catholic doctrine that marriage is a sacred, indissoluble sacrament. The cartoons illustrate married couples in domestic conflict: fighting, drinking, and generally miserable—yet bound together religiously. The satire's point: if marriage is truly sacred and unbreakable, then unhappy or abusive spouses are trapped. Examples include a wife enduring her husband's drunken behavior, a man beating his wife, and Mrs. Mary Hone, driven "quite insane" by her enslaved husband, who resorts to poisoning his tea rather than obtain a divorce. The critique targets both the Catholic teaching and the legal system denying divorce, trapping people—especially women—in destructive marriages. The "sacrament" becomes absurdly cruel rather than holy.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Marriage Is a Sacrament. ARRIAGE is a sacrament and therefore indissoluble ! So the priests and preachers vow, all violently voluble And if you doubt, just look about among the married people, You'll find each home so sanctified it ought to wear a steeple There's Jones next door ; he’s very prone to gross intoxication And when he's drunk his wailing wife enjoys a celebration ; With ardent laying on of hands, his spouse he so belabors, The sacramental ritual enrapturesall the neighbors, There's William Brown, a doting drudge, devotedly wxorious ; — When he leaves home to seek his desk and tend his tasks laborious, A handsome caller takes his place—the sin is surely venial, It keeps the solemn sacrament from growing uncon- genial, “Gay Charlie Clinton has to homes.” Mr, and Mrs, Watkins have been wedded fourteen years; He spends his time in curses, she spends her time in tears; They've nagged each other ever since the honeymoon grew sappy If "twere not for the sacrament, you'd call them quite unhappy. Gay Charlie Clinton has two homes ; he leads a double life; His dollars rain to entertain a lady not his wife. And Mrs. Clinton knows it well, but shows no agitation, For she has all the sacrament—and that’s great consolation, Poor Mrs. Bolus wed a man who drove her to the street ; He quickly spent her every cent ; but she was quite discreet : Her pious pride chose suicide instead of legal cure; She thus avoided vile divorce by means more neat and sure, And poor old Mrs, Mary Hone was driven quite insane, Because her husband made her slave till life was but a bane; S She put some poison in his tea—a melancholy fact, < The sacramental ritual enraptures alt the neighbors.” And yet at least her action left the sacrament intact, comicbooks.com